Girl, 9, mother to be repatriated from Uganda to DRC over Ebola

Uganda has reported a new case case of Ebola in Kasese, two months after three other incidents were reported in the same region.

According to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) the victim is a 9-year old girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“The mother and daughter crossed into Uganda through the Mpondwe border post in Kasese, the same district that reported the three earlier cases. A point-of-entry screening team recognised the girl’s high fever, body weakness, rash, and unexplained bleeding from her mouth and isolated her,” the research centre report reads.

Uganda’s Ministry of Health confirmed that incident occurred on Wednesday and the girl rushed to Bwera Hospital’s Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in Kasese near the DRC-Uganda border.

The Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe confirmed that she had the virus after testing her blood samples.

Bwera town, where the previous Ebola patients were treated is located 472 kilometres from Kampala.

It now represents the most recent expansion of the disease from its main hot spots in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

The disease has also recently spread to the remote North Kivu area of Pinga.

Ugandan health officials however assured that there’s no need for alarm stating that the victim did not come into contact with anyone else but her mother after entering Uganda.

However, the public has been urged to remain vigilant while working together with the Ebola Team officials to curb its spread.

Ebola outbreak in the DRC hit its peak with 3000 cases reported.

“This is yet another grim milestone for the Ebola outbreak in DRC and no end seems to be in sight, “the country’s director of the nonprofit group Oxfam, Corinne N’Daw said in a news release.